NJ School District Cuts Portions for Students $3 Behind on Lunch Payment

If your child's school lunch money balance gets behind just a little it looks like the penalty will be placed on the kids.

The Tewksbury school district in New Jersey apparently has allowed a contractor to severely limit lunch if the money balance falls to -$3.10 !!!!!

I wonder if this is normal throughout the country ?

I wonder who the maniacs are that allowed this boondoggle ?

CALIFON, N.J. – It’s bad enough that school children across the nation are going hungry on the skimpy portions offered through the Michelle
Obama lunch menu.

At the Tewksbury school district in New Jersey, children who fall $3.10 behind on their food payments get one hard-boiled egg, a package of crackers
and a carton of milk for lunch.

The Tewksbury district consists of two schools, one for grades K-4 and one for grades 5-8. Lunches at the school cost $2.40 per day. That means
children are only allowed to fall one day behind in their lunch payments before getting stuck with the egg special.

The lunches at Tewksbury, like most in schools across the nation, are subsidized by the federal government....

What ever happened to making your lunch and taking it with you? It costs much less than $2.40/day to make a couple sandwiches with an apple or a
banana and take it to school in the morning. Heck, you could add the hard boiled egg and crackers to the other stuff and still come in below the $2.40
mark. Plus, the kids would be eating more healthily. We did it when I was a kid. It won't hurt the current crop of kids.

Thanks for that link man, companies like this are in part responsible for the downward spiral we are in. Instead of trying to be a part of the
community, help build it and help it prosper, some instead decide that blind greed is the way to go.

I went to their page and wrote an email to Frank Maschio, the President and the founder of the company, letting him know what I think of his business
practices.

This is a company that supplies food to a 150 school districts in the NE... potentially that's a lot of children that may be starving if their
parents fall behind on one day of lunch money.

And why is this contractor making rules and sending newsletters anyway? The school districts should be the ones enforcing their rules and if the
contractor does not agree, let them find business elsewhere -- I'm sure there are others that would be more flexible and accommodating to
children.

Originally posted by DarthMuerte
What ever happened to making your lunch and taking it with you? It costs much less than $2.40/day to make a couple sandwiches with an apple or a
banana and take it to school in the morning. Heck, you could add the hard boiled egg and crackers to the other stuff and still come in below the $2.40
mark. Plus, the kids would be eating more healthily. We did it when I was a kid. It won't hurt the current crop of kids.

What ever happened to making your lunch and taking it with you?

Here's what Has happened....

Perhaps Vilsack and other nanny state politicians are already working on the next phase of their plan, which might include checking students’
homemade lunches.

In February, a North Carolina school made national headlines when it was revealed that a lunch inspector told a 4-year-old girl that her homemade
turkey sandwich, banana, potato chips and apple juice were unhealthy and that she needed to eat a USDA-approved school lunch.

Fox News reported that when the girl returned home from school with her unopened lunch, it “contained a note from the school saying
that her lunch didn’t meet the guidelines and a $1.25 bill for the replacement lunch.”

Man I wish I lived in the country you live in. Currently I'm in the USA, North America, and teachers here don't make NEARLY as much as the ones in
your country do.

I know because I have family members that are teachers and professors. And I could tell you about all the other expenses they have while NOT MAKING
even half of what you wrote -- but I know it will fall on deaf ears Neo.

I don't know where you get your figures and facts (well, in fact I have a good idea), but they have very little basis in reality... on the other hand
they're always good at starting fights and dividing us on ATS.

Capitalism is suicide. It is morally bankrupt and soulless. It must end or it will kill us all. It will use up every tree, every molecule of clean
breathable air and turn this planet into an uninhabital wasteland all for profit. All for greed. Get rid of it or it will kill each and every one of
us. People before things not things before people.

First, this would not include kids on free lunch programs. So, the kid's parents are not dealing with a financial concern (since they would be
eligible for free lunch).

So, what is a business (which the contractor is) supposed to do when someone owe's them money?

Every school in my area allows you to sign up on line for crediting your kids lunches, with e-mail alerts, minimum balance warnings, etc. You can even
set it up for auto-payment when it gets to a low level, flag items your kid can or cannot have (cookies, for example), It's a pretty cool system.

I have to disagree with you on seeing this as a huge issue, or even an issue at all. A business should not be expected to give out product for free,
and this company does. It is just not good enough by your requirements. Even though the kids do somewhat suffer, they will be sure to send the message
home to their parents. The alternative is that they get nothing for lunch.

I'm all for kids eating, so don't take this wrong here. My son started pre k this year in nj. His teacher has sent 3 letters home with the kids
already about parents that have kids who receive the free milk packing juices and such. The kids don't drink the milk. It gets thrown away. While I
do not doubt that some kids do need the lunches, some parents are just applying for the free lunch program because it is there. That's it. No other
reason. It is very wasteful. I think they should run a more strict program. It's crazy. The state money is literally going down the drain

Most schools don't even bother to check out income levels on the free lunch applications because the more "poor" kids you have attending the more
federal money the school gets. However, some of the parents are so lazy you all but have to fill out the application for them because they don't
much care if their kids eat or not. You have that with the ones who aren't on free lunches, too. They would run up tabs into the hundreds if you
didn't crack down on them. Schools won't let the kids go hungry but normally will supply a lunch for the kids who have a negative balance that is
over a certain amount of days old. Back in Kansas, it was a cheap meat (or p-butter) sandwich. Personally, from what I see in the schools, parents
should really consider packing their kids' lunches because of health reasons. All that fried and sweet school food is just gross. An average lunch
at our school would be a corn dog, a bag of chips, some canned fruit, soggy boiled veggie, and a fruit juice or milk. I mean...really?

If your child's school lunch money balance gets behind just a little it looks like the penalty will be placed on the kids.

The Tewksbury school district in New Jersey apparently has allowed a contractor to severely limit lunch if the money balance falls to -$3.10 !!!!!

I wonder if this is normal throughout the country ?

I wonder who the maniacs are that allowed this boondoggle ?

CALIFON, N.J. – It’s bad enough that school children across the nation are going hungry on the skimpy portions offered through the Michelle
Obama lunch menu.

At the Tewksbury school district in New Jersey, children who fall $3.10 behind on their food payments get one hard-boiled egg, a package of crackers
and a carton of milk for lunch.

The Tewksbury district consists of two schools, one for grades K-4 and one for grades 5-8. Lunches at the school cost $2.40 per day. That means
children are only allowed to fall one day behind in their lunch payments before getting stuck with the egg special.

The lunches at Tewksbury, like most in schools across the nation, are subsidized by the federal government....

Do Food Stamps cover school lunches ?

That's what I was thinking. Where there heck is that where teachers make that much? I need to move there.

The school my kids go to have a policy such as in the OP. Day one of no cash for lunch, they get a full lunch. Day two and three, they get reduced
portions, day three and beyond, they get a bagged lunch of who knows what. I remember in the schools I went to as a kid, we got lunch regardless of
money and mom and dad were sent a bill. I don't know what would happen if the bill wasn't paid. In my high school, if there was any outstanding
money not paid by the end of senior year, students can't graduate.

I pack my kids' lunches and they get more sustenance than what the school provides in a normal hot lunch anyway. Since I pack what I know they'll
eat, I know they're not going hungry.

Originally posted by HUMBLEONE
Capitalism is suicide. It is morally bankrupt and soulless. It must end or it will kill us all. It will use up every tree, every molecule of clean
breathable air and turn this planet into an uninhabital wasteland all for profit. All for greed. Get rid of it or it will kill each and every one of
us. People before things not things before people.

Very very interesting comment.

How does all that tie in with the topic ?

A line by line analysis might allow people to understand your thinking.

Because Comrade Xuenchen it is capitalism in action, children go hungry but the profit for the capitalist is maintained. Don't be coy with me
Comrade. I know that you understand the concept only too well, after all how long have you been away from the motherland, immersed in this sea of
perversity?

This content community relies on user-generated content from our member contributors. The opinions of our members are not those of site ownership who maintains strict editorial agnosticism and simply provides a collaborative venue for free expression.